Momentous Step By The Ira

August 02, 2005

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was so impressed with the Irish Republican Army's statement last week rejecting armed conflict that he called it a step of ``unparalleled magnitude.'' The people of Northern Ireland -- Catholics as well as majority Protestants -- surely hope that this is the giant leap toward permanent peace that the statement portends. But many are understandably holding their breath.

The IRA has abided by its self-imposed cease-fire since 1997 in not attacking British troops and their Protestant allies. But the mostly Catholic organization cannot boast clean hands. In the years since the cease-fire, the underground army created to hound the British out of Northern Ireland and reunite the province with the Republic of Ireland has not decommissioned its arms caches as promised. It has engaged in criminal acts such as bank robbery, physically attacked Catholic opponents and gathered intelligence that could facilitate a resumption of attacks if the cease-fire failed.

Thursday, the IRA said it has ``formally ordered an end to the armed campaign'' to drive out the British -- a campaign that has cost some 3,700 lives at the hands of the IRA and Protestant paramilitaries. Further, it promised to ``dump'' its arms. It said its ``volunteers'' would not engage in criminal activity but instead turn to politics. Ominously, the communique suggested that the IRA would not disband.

The IRA leaders' statement will be credible only if the arms ``dumping'' can be verified. Northern Ireland can get back to a power-sharing government and guarantee peace and justice for all only after the paramilitaries turn in their arms and disband. That means gun-toting Protestant thugs, too. They've caused more trouble lately than the IRA.